Introduction

Human information behaviour is all about how we need, find, process, and use information. But we do this all the time. So why do we need to study and research it?

Well, it's a bit like studying nutrition and the human body. The more we understand how the body works, what nutrients it needs and the different effects of different foods (for better or for worse) the more we can teach and advise people about healthy diets, train up elite sportsmen and women, and identify, treat and prevent disorders. Information is nutrition for the mind. It is the fuel of learning, and the basis of our knowledge. Like food, we need a constant supply. And information has its fast food, gourmet and highperformance diet equivalents.

To take one example, research into the information behaviour of people affected by HIV/AIDS has generated insights that are directly useful to those who provide information on both prevention of and living with the disease. Such information must be accurate, reliable, authoritative, up to date and easily available. But research suggests that other factors are also highly influential in determining whether people successfully find and engage with information they need. Accurate, reliable, authoritative and up-to-date information may be readily available. Yet some HIV/AIDS sufferers may ignore or avoid – even hide or destroy – information which possesses these desirable qualities. Information behaviour research suggests that it is one thing to make HIV/AIDS information readily available in, say, a city's public library, but quite another thing for a person who fears or has experienced stigma and discrimination relating to the disease to risk being seen accessing and reading it in such a public location. Also, information may not necessarily be timely in terms of a person's readiness to accept it. What might objectively be accurate, reliable and authoritative information may be ignored, not understood or rejected by some HIV/AIDS sufferers who, for a time after learning of their diagnosis, may simply be unreceptive due to being in a state of shock, anxiety or even denial. The more that information providers (in this case, medical and social workers, support organizations and information professionals) are aware of such difficulties and complexities, the greater is their chance of being able effectively to bring people into contact with the information they need.